NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22971, 24 February 1938, Page 12

NOTES AND COMMENTS

GROWING PAINS OF NEW ERA "The New Era in History" was the subject taken by Mr. Ramsay Muir, M.P., in an address to the Historical Association at King's College, London. No one would deny, ho said, that the present was a period of confusion, bewilderment and incertitude, though few were courageous enough to recognise that these were the growing pains of a new era. Economic interdependence was such that the United States could not from her own resources produce a single motor-car, aeroplane or wireless set. Rubber was an example of how the most advanced countries were dependent on the least advanced. To fight against the economic interdependence of the world was futile. The new era was one of potential plenty, in which it would bo possible to banish poverty and drudgery. BALDWIN AND CHAMBERLAIN Mr. Chamberlain is the antithesis of his predecessor, writes the Parliamentary correspondent of the Spectator. He is a first-class administrator, the ideal ltfad of almost any department, but so far he has never reached the first flight as a Parliament man. In debate he never fails to say just-as much as the occasion demands and no more. There are no loose ends and no digressions. A speech from him is always admirably calculated to serve its immediate purpose. But on the other hand, it leaves no la,sting impression. Lord Baldwin s utterances, both in Parliament and outside, were strewn with unforgettable phrases and aphorisms. "Peace in our time." "Defiling the earth from the air." "Dictatorship is like a great beech tree — very splendid to look at but nothing grows under it." It is difficult to recollect an occasion when anything so memorable has fallen from Mr. Chamberlain. Nor is it likely to. He is cast in another mould. POSITIVE PATRIOTISM

What is positive patriotism ? How can I serve my country in an age in which everyone insists that the only end of life is to serve myself, and serve myself as liberally and as often as possible? asks a writer in the Spectator. The first great task which this positive patriotism must and will accomplish is the substitution on a world scale, through the initiative of first one State, then another, of the philosophy of "give" for the philosophy of "get." This may seem an enormous, superhuman task. But Edison succeeded in bringing an undreamt of illumination and radiance into material life in a very few years, because conditions were right for it. The world is read}' to-day for a new illumination of the mind and spirit, and this positive patriotism is a spiritual thing having its roots in a Christian world order. Only a great faith in God can build a great community. Communism would build a world order on a philosophy of "get" and of class antagonism; it preaches a material ideal, attractive- only in anticipation, and increasingly less satisfying in attainment. The positive patriotism, based on "give," and on personal and national responsibility, gains strength.as it approaches its goal, because its fruits are so manifold and satisfying to the whole nature of the individual and thp community. SCHOOL BROADCASTING

As the scope and efficiency of school broadcasting grows, it is appropriate to remind ourselves, says the Listener, of the principle which has guided the development of the service from its inception, namely, that a broadcast is not a substitute for, but a supplement to, a class lesson, and that its effectiveness depends to a great extent on the use which the class teacher makes of it. What are the educational effects which school broadcasting aims at producing? To begin, with, it lessens the handicap under which small schools labour through lack of specialist teachers, and causes the education given in these schools to be less associated in the children's minds with the voices of one or two teachers only. Next, it relieves schools in remoto districts of some of their sense of isolation, and enables all schools to feel that their work is more closely in touch with the world outside. School talks also clothe text-book facts with new meaning, which ordinary classroom resources cannot bring out. They provide teachers with new material and the services of a constant " refresher course," and help to train children in habits of selective listening which will make them critical and discriminating listeners when they grow up. And, finally, in everything which concerns the spoken word or can be judged by the ear, they give schools examples by which they may criticise their own performances. THE NEW ARCHITECTURE

"The 'New Architecture' which now being exhibited in Londov appears to be indistinguishable from what a few years ago used to be, and still is, commonly known as 'modernist architecture,' " said Mr. Trystan Edwards in a broadcast talk. "Nobody will dispute the contention of the organisers of the exhibition that the movement which they represent is an international one, though it must give them cause for thought that this same modernist style has recently been tabooed in two great nations of opposite political complexion. The Germans will have none of it, and the Russians, having had 15 years of cubical concrete buildings the colour of mud and completely devoid of decoration, are now crying aloud for something as different as possible, with the result that a classic revival is in full swing in that country. The modernists would like to have the best of both worlds. While they claim to be the only true artistic interpreters of our industrial age, they also say that their style picks up the tradition of the eighteenth century and the Kegency. I believe this to be a complete illusion. The modernists are the inheritors not of the eighteenth century, but of the Victorians who cried aloud for truthfulness and started the heresy that buildings should be designed 'from the inside outwards.' Obviously the correct procedure is exactly the opposite. First you start wtth a concept of the city as a whole and then the street, and you work down from that to the individual building which has to take its place in a general harmony. This is what they did in the eighteenth century, and it has not been established that any revolutions in building technique or alterations in our habits of life necessitate anv departure from this admirable principle."